Political economy and the outlook for capitalism

The collapse of Lehman Brothers on 16 September 2008 has opened a new stage of economic history, ushering in the world’s worst recession since WWII. The trajectory of global capitalism has been diverse but, after three years of deep crisis, protracted economic problems persist and are even intensifying, notwithstanding accelerated growth in a number of large developing countries.

In the global North, policies implemented in the aftermath of the crisis of financialised capitalism have neither ended the neoliberal agenda nor curbed the demands of a resurgent financial sector. Instead, after a diluted Keynesian moment centred on “quantitative easing”, the governments of the richest countries have launched a new set of neoliberal reforms characterised by harsh austerity measures. From 2009 onwards, this new neoliberal wave has spread progressively from peripheral European countries to theUK, the Eurozone, and now theUSA. Along with surging unemployment rates, this economic onslaught, on those who are in no way perceived as accountable for the crisis and slump, promises a period of major social disruption in welfare provision and institutions, pressures on wages and working conditions and, in response across a growing number of countries, multitudes of spontaneous and, occasionally, mass actions as macroeconomic prospects deteriorate.

In the global South, the forces putatively driving catch-up remain limited and highly uneven, with the issue of global imbalances often placed at the forefront in deference to theUS’s compromised if continuing hegemonic role. In contrast, not least in the face of the ongoing ecological disruption, the idea of a new frontier for social and economic development and thought is being promoted by a large spectrum of actors, ranging from proponents of no-growth or slow growth through to governments, international institutions and corporations who envisage a revival of capitalism thanks to and in pursuit of the green economy. These initiatives are indicative of an intellectual and material crisis but offer little by way of solution for which, as observed, a savage renewal of neoliberalism serves as the default option.

The scientific issues raised by the corresponding range of problems are formidable, but the blindness and reductionism of mainstream economics prevents them from being tackled within the discipline which has scarcely been disturbed by the acute exposure of its inadequacies by the crisis.

Taking pluralism as the means for bringing together the community of critical economists, this joint conference, called by two major international and one of the largest national networks of political economy and social scientists, will breathe fresh air into an otherwise moribund intellectual atmosphere. It is a major event that will bring together scholars from all strands of political economy and heterodox economics in order to discuss their future and the recent developments in the global economy and in economic science following the global economic crisis.

Association for heterodox Economics (AHE),

French Association of Political Economy/ Association Française d’Economie Politique (fape)

International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (iippe)

Joint Conference – Paris, 5-8 July 2012

Submissions of individual abstract or panel proposals along the following non-exclusive themes are welcomed.

Theoretical Perspectives

Critical Realism in Economics

Feminist economics

Green economics

Institutional economics

Marxist political economy

Post-Keynesian economics

Social Economics

Crisis

Global economic crisis

Austerity in the global north

The crisis of the Eurozone

Economic crisis and the developing world

Chinaand the world economy

Economics and the Arab world

Themes

Neoliberalism

Financialisation

Ecology: global capitalism and climate change

The global shift of capitalism / Global economy towards a multipolar world

I love to go to conferences to present and discuss with the others there the problems we want to solve. But the current economic, policial, and cultural chaos was not created by academics like these and definitely will not be resolved by them. We need much stronger action, e.g., closing down trading houses and banks, re-writing the tax codes, forcing members of Congress, Parliament, etc. to full and complete disclosure about from whom they receive money and instructions, reasonably taxing financial transactions, building and re-building infrastructure. I just can’t accept another academic meeting as the best use of my time right now. But if you believe I’m wrong on this please post why and we can discuss it. Academics have roles to play today but presenting papers at academic meetings is way down the list, in my view.

Really? Sounds like two streams of critical model makers and mathematicians on a collision course to nowhere.
It seems the larger US high ranking journals have long since determined what critical means and even the SHE goes along with it. May I refer the society to some great economics writers who didnt give a damn about maths and empiricism?
It really is time to get away from the damn computer which …well just isnt working. The models are too narrow and they just cant connect the dots. Every market is a stand alone entitity in this stupid game of economics, but not in the real world. Heterodox just as guilty of following the staright and narrow. Still apologetically seeking empiricism.

I would love to attend and raise some hell (to heaven or Earth, at least), but I am (as an autodidactic holontologist & ecotect) still temporarily financially marginalized. So, why not make it easier on the biosphere and the community of creative contributors and have an ongoing multimedia webinar supporting live local seminars?

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